Darrell Davis: Hey, Bombers, what happened?

Chris Matthews hasn’t been allowed to speak to the media.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea won’t provide specifics about Matthews, one of his team’s receivers, who was reportedly stabbed during an off-field incident. So what are they hiding? The truth will eventually come out.

Pro teams do this all the time. They hide. They turn inward, hide the truth and curse anyone brash enough to ask them what really happened.

If Matthews was stabbed during an altercation in a Winnipeg bar, the news should be made public. If it happened to the mayor or a councillor or an MLA, the details would be revealed for two reasons: Violent crime is newsworthy and the victim is a public figure. Politicians are public figures. So are athletes, whose notoriety and salaries come from the people who buy tickets. Shielding public figures from scrutiny does a disservice to supporters who deserve to know if the people they vote for, if the athletes they cheer for, are worthy of their professions.

All this hiding does is make things worse. There’s never anything wrong with telling the truth. Right from the beginning.